Microsoft again notes how the Surface Pro 3 is the “tablet that can replace your laptop” and touts features like the touchscreen, kickstand, stylus, USB port, and detachable keyboard (which is sold separately).

Microsoft has certainly had its fair share of ads explaining why the Surface is superior to Apple’s iPad, but this time the messaging is a little different with the MacBook Air comparisons.

Earlier this summer, Microsoft offered a deal that paid customers $650 in credit towards a new Surface Pro 3 for their Macbook Air.

Taylor Soper is a GeekWire staff reporter who covers a wide variety of tech assignments, including emerging startups in Seattle and Portland, the sharing economy and the intersection of technology and sports. Follow him @taylor_soper and email taylor@geekwire.com.

Comments

I’m writing this comment for the sole intent of getting someone’s attention at Microsoft.

I bought my fiancee one of the latest-gen Surface Pros with the expectation that it’d be a laptop replacement and it’s turned into an $800 paperweight.

She’s a veterinarian at a high-volume shelter and recently herniated a disk trying to save a dog’s leg. Despite buying the Surface a few months ago, I noticed her doing all her work on her Android phone. I asked, “Why aren’t you using the Surface?” That’s when I learned how much she’s been struggling with it.

The biggest issue is input unreliability. At seemingly random yet extremely frequent occurrences, the mouse cursor decides to spasm erratically on it its own without any human interaction. Sometimes it can be cured by disconnecting either the Surface keyboard or the power cord, but not always. That’s where a reset is necessary.

Touch input behaves similarly, randomly selecting other parts of the screen than the one we’re touching or bringing up context menus instead. I assumed it was getting erroneous inputs from the keyboard, but it still occurs even after disconnecting it.

Additional issues: its native Mail app does not support the security features her hospital uses forcing us to buy Outlook, and poor Chrome support (blurry text and cursor disappears in-window).

We’re on our third Surface keyboard and have reformatted twice, yet these problems persist. We’ve made appointments at the Microsoft Store and they recommended swapping the keyboards, but did not solve the issues.

Yesterday, after watching her struggle consistently with the device to work in a spreadsheet, I gave her my MacBook Pro. An hour later, she tearfully remarked, “It’s so amazing using a computer that works.”

Maybe the Surface is awesome for college students, but for a doctor and a surgeon that’s in charge of saving lives every day, it’s been a disaster.

We’ll make a last-ditch effort and use our warranty to exchange it with a Surface Pro 3, hoping it’s figured out these issues, but expectations are so low that we’re already shopping for a MacBook Air.

balls187

Why waste the time? She liked the MacBook. Get her one.

guest

The right choice seems to be staring you in the face. I also don’t think you want to choose a computer for someone that’s “in charge of saving lives every day” by doing a “last-ditch effort”.

Unless you love the drama. In which case, by all means, keep doing the same thing you’ve been doing, while hoping for a radically different outcome.

Alec Matias

Great point, and the likely scenario. Since I’m already out $800, figured we’d try swapping it one last time.

http://paulsalzman.com psimac

Funny how Microsoft leaves out the fact that to “do more” you need to add $129 to its $999 price, making it exactly $129 more than a MacBook Air.

Good luck trying to use one on your lap, btw. I guess that’s what they mean by “replacing your laptop;” they’re replacing the use case!

http://paulsalzman.com psimac

And they’re kidding me with this, right? One bit of software used widely in business is Windows… Mac can run that, too, so what exactly can Surface run that Mac can’t? Total false advertising.